100 - SPRINGFIELD AND CLARK COUNTY 1846 came from Philadelphia to Springfield. His father was a locomotive engineer, and had been trained to the business on some of the first locomotive engines in America. James Wiggins ran the locomotive while track was being laid on the little Miami Railroad from Cincinnati to Springfield. At that time this was intended to be the main line. However, the Springfield stockholders objected on account of the noise, and subsequently this became a short division, while the main line was run by way of Xenia tO Columbus. James 'Wiggins was in the service of this railroad from 1846 to 1873, a period of nearly thirty years. On account of the railroad strike in 1873 he left the service, and after that remained in Springfield, following the employment of stationary engineer. James Wiggins was born September 14, 1806, and died November 3, 1892. His wife was born December 18, 1812, and died August 25, 1894. Their children were : Charles A., born October 8, 1834, and died February 1, 1873 ; Benjamin S., born October 11, 1835, died September 20, 1854 ; Mary L., born April 24, 1837, died December 21, 1858 ; James A., born March 11, 1839, died March 21, 1906; Emma E., born April 5, 1841, died March 22, 1842 ; Joseph B., born July 14, 1843, died June 17, 1890. The youngest of the children was Robert Wiggins, and he is the only survivor. He grew up at Springfield, attended public schools and also the McGoogan private school. At the age of sixteen he began his career at railroading, starting as a fireman on the Little Miami Railroad. He was in the service of this division for about six years as fireman, and on May 1, 1871, was promoted to engineer, with a run between Cincinnati and Columbus. After about nine months he went with the Baltimore & Ohio, with headquarters at Chillicothe, Ohio. February 1, 1873, he again transferred his employment, joining the Pennsylvania system, with headquarters at Logansport, Indiana. In December, 1873, on account of the railroad strike, he returned to Springfield, and soon afterward went to the Southwest, to Houston, Texas, and for a few mOnths had a run on the Houston & Texas Central. Again returning tO Springfield, Mr. Wiggins was for two and one-half years a stationary engineer in a local malleable iron factory. When he resumed railroading it was with the Detroit, Toledo and Ironton, but his first trip required three days and three nights, and he left the service promptly. Going to Columbus, he was taken into the service of the Scioto Valley Railroad as an engineer during the construction of that line. Six months later he came back to Springfield, and was again employed by the Ohio Southern, now the D. T. and I., and was in its service continuously until December 8, 1914. He retired at that date, after having given practically half a century to the duties of fireman or engineer. He is one of the oldest members of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers, and for one term served as chief engineer of Division No. 208. Even after leaving the railroad service Mr. Wiggins did not retire absolutely, since for five years he was an employe of Webster and Perks. Mr. Wiggins is a republican, and is affiliated with Clark Lodge No. 101 Free and Accepted Masons. April 4, 1872, he married Miss Isabella J. Culp. She was born at Yellow Springs, Ohio, daughter of Levi and Margaret (Hart) Culp, who came to OhiO from Carlisle, Pennsylvania. Mr. and Mrs. Wiggins SPRINGFIELD AND CLARK COUNTY - 101 were the parents of two sons : Burton R., born July 4, 1874, died December 26, 1918 ; and Walter C., born February 9, 1892, living at home and a clerk in Springfield. ELLIS HENTHORN. Among the older residents of Springfield few are better known and nOne more highly esteemed than Ellis Henthorn, for many years a leading contractor, and an honored veteran of the great Civil war. He is a native of Ohio, and except during the time when he was serving his country wherever duty called he has practically spent his life in the Buckeye State. Mr Henthorn was born in Monroe County, Ohio, April 22, 1838. His parents were James and Eliza (Wright) Henthorn, his father a native of Monroe County and his mother born in 1815 in Greene County, Pennsylvania. His paternal grandparents, William and Fanny (Myers) Henthorn, belonged tO Ohio, and his maternal grandparents, Robert and Elizabeth Wright, to Greene County, Pennsylvania. James Henthorn was born in 1812, was a farmer all his life in Monroe County, Ohio, and died there in 1854. His widow survived him many years, dying at Springfield, to which city she had moved when it became the home of her son. She passed away in 1902. Of their nine children but four are living: Ellis, of Springfield ; Thomas, of Milford, Delaware ; Jane, wife of Joseph Lang, of Springfield ; and Andrew, also of Springfield. Ellis Henthorn was sixteen years old when he lost his father. He attended the district schools during boyhood, but after his father's death provided for his own needs by working for other farmers, and was so engaged when the Civil war came on. On January 6, 1862, he enlisted for service, entering Company K, 78th Ohio Volunteer Infantry, with which he took part in the battles of Fort Donelson and Shiloh, also Raymond Junction, Jackson, Champion's Hill and siege of Vicksburg, and was honorably discharged at the close of this enlistment. On January 6, 1864, he re-enlisted in the same company and regiment, being in the 3rd Division, under General Logan, and in the 17th Army Corps, commanded by Gen. James A. McPherson, whose death he later witnessed at the battle of Atlanta. Mr. Henthorn participated in the battle of Kenesaw Mountain, marched to the sea under Sherman, fought at Atlanta, then marched back to Petersburg and then to Richmond, and was one of the victorious army that took part in that never-to-be forgotten Grand Review at Washington, D. C. on May 21, 1865, and was finally discharged July 11, 1865. Mr. Henthorn married on April 10, 1864, Miss Laura Tuttle, who was born at Zanesville, Ohio, August 29, 1847, a daughter of Benjamin and Catherine L. (Trout) Tuttle, and a granddaughter of Solomon and Sarah (Lowe) Tuttle. During the Revolutionary war Grandfather Solomon Tuttle served in the Vermont Dragoons, was captured by the British and kept a prisoner for thirteen months. After his marriage Mr. Henthorn located at Zanesville, and under his father-in-law learned the stone mason's trade. After the death of Mr. Tuttle in 1879 Mr. and Mrs. Henthorn moved to Springfield, and here he went into the contracting businesS and for seven and one-half years, in addition to doing a large amount of work for private parties, did all the city stone 102 - SPRINGFIELD AND CLARK COUNTY work for bridge abutments and culverts. For fifteen years and three months also he was contractor for all the stone work for the National Harvester Company at Lagonda, then a suburb but now a part of the City of Springfield. Mr. Henthorn continued active in business until the age of seventy-five years, when failing eyesight compelled him to retire. Mr. and Mrs. Henthorn had six children born to them : Alice, who died at the age of six years ; Augusta and Mary L., both of whom lived to be forty-two years old; William, a soldier during a great part Of his life, died in Springfield, Ohio, November 21, 1919 ; Bessie, who resides with her father ; and Charles Foster, who was a soldier in the Spanish-American war, is connected with the International Harvester Company at Springfield. Mr. Henthorn's son 'William served three years in the United States Regulars in the Spanish-American war in the Philippines, during the Boxer trouble in China, and on the Mexican border. In the World's war he served as first sergeant of Company B. his regiment being in the 37th Division, 148th Regiment. -Mr. Hen-thorn belongs to the Grand Army of the Republic, is a republican in politics, and is a member of the Church of Christ. WIILLIS B. CLARKE. The late Willis B. Clarke was one of the highly respected men of Springfield, where he resided from 1872 until his death. He was born in Rappahannock County, Virginia, May 3, 1851, a son of Robert and Mary (Bradley) Clarke, who came to Licking County, Ohio, when Willis B. Clarke was a lad, and there he continued to live until he came to Springfield. After coming to this city he worked in the wood shop of the Saint John Company, but when the mill burned he became custodian of the Springfield public schools, and continued to be employed in this capacity until his death, which occurred May 14, 1917. In politics he was a republican. A man of high principles, he lived up to his conception of his duty as a good citizen and Christian, and always held the confidence of all who knew him. On May 1, 1882, Mr. Clarke married Ada M. Wright, born at Catawba, Clark County, Ohio, in February, 1862, a daughter of Lewis and Maria (Davisson) Wright, he was born in Ohio and she at South Champaign, Ohio. The maternal grandparents of Mrs. Clarke, Isaac and Sarah (Curl) Davisson, natives of Virginia, traveled overland on horseback with teams at an early day from Virginia to South Charleston, Ohio, where they permanently settled. Mr. and Mrs. Clarke became the parents of the following children : Carrie M., who is a decorator and artistic painter ; Nell M., who married Robert Shaw, has two children, Robert Clarke and Elizabeth Jean, and they live at 504 East Madison Avenue, Springfield. Miss Clarke is a valued member of the Fortnightly Club. Mrs. Clarke owns a fine modern residence at 114 Woodlawn Avenue, Springfield. When the Springfield Day Nursery was founded in October, 1920, she was appointed its matron, and since then has most acceptably held this position, and it is largely because of her efficiency and kindly care of the little ones under her supervision that this enterprise has been so decided a success. She is a consistent member of, and worker in, the Saint Paul's Methodist Episcopal Church. SPRINGFIELD AND CLARK COUNTY - 103 WILLIAM BAYLEY has been a resident of Springfield since 1875 and has been a prominent and influential figure in the civic and industrial development and progress of this city. He was born at Baltimore, Maryland, July 28, 1845, and bears the full patronymic of his father, William Bayley, Sr., who was born in Staffordshire, England, and who was a young man when he came to the United States, in company with his brother and sister. Here he engaged in the work of his trade, that of slater, and here he married Mary Ann Mason, who was of New England Colonial ancestry. Mr. Bayley, Sr., was associated with Wildey in the founding and organizing of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, of which he eventually became grand master of the Maryland Grand Lodge. He continued his residence in Baltimore until he met an accidental death, in 1858. His widow survived him a number of years, and of their eleven children William, of this review, is the youngest. Mr. Bayley was reared in his native city, where his educational advantages were those of the schools of the period. In 1861 he entered upon an apprenticeship as a machinist with the engineering firm of Poole & Hunt, the business of which is now conducted under the title of the Poole Engineering Company. His original stipend was $1.50 a week, but his wages were increased by one dollar a week as soon as the Civil war began. He completed his apprenticeship at the age Of twenty-one years, and by this time he had been placed in charge of the drafting department. Prior to this, through the advice and persuasion of his mother, Mr. Bayley attended night school, where he devoted special attention to the study of engineering and drafting. He continued his connection with the Poole concern until 1870. In the meanwhile the firm has become interested in the Leffel water wheel, which was then being manufactured at Springfield, Ohio. John W. Bookwalter, who was interested in the enterprise, had come to Baltimore to make arrangements for the manufacturing of the wheel, and incidentally Mr. Bayley produced requisite drawings for the invention. He saw an opportunity to improve the device, and secured a patent on his divergent discharge on the wheel bucket. A. B. Crowell, who had been interested in the Leffel wheel at Springfield, became associated with Mr. Bayley in the manufacturing of the latter's improved invention at Wilmington, Delaware. The improvement thus devised is now in general use wherever water wheels are in commission. Mr. Crowell was soon succeeded by George Remington, but the financial panic of the early '70s so crippled Mr. Bayley that he was virtually compelled to begin over again, in 1875, the depression having made his manufacturing enterprise unsuccessful in returns. February 21, 1871, recorded the marriage of Mr. Bayley and Miss Mary E. Dicus, whose brother, James A., had been a fellow apprentice with Mr. Bayley in the Poole establishment and who also had served as a soldier in the Civil war. After the war James A. Dicus came to Springfield, Ohio, and had here been employed by the Leffel people and by Whitely, Fassler & Kelly, reaper manufacturers. Through the influence of Mr. Dicus Mr. Bayley came to Springfield in 1875, and likewise found employment with the firm of Whitely, Fassler & Kelly. In 1889 Messrs. Dicus and Bayley became connected with the Rogers Fence Company, which later became known as the Rogers Iron Corn- 104 - SPRINGFIELD AND CLARK COUNTY pany. About 1904 the business was reorganized under the title of the William Bayley Company, and of this corporation, now one of the important manufacturing concerns of Springfield, Mr. Bayley still continues the president, though the active management of the business is now vested in his four sons, William D., Guy D., Lee and Elden. Being a great lover of nature and of the great out-of-doors, Mr. Bayley finds much satisfaction in the use of his automobile, but he still gives a general supervision to his varied and important business interests. His incentive genius has been employed in various ways, especially in devising improvements on harvesting machinery and devices now being made by his Company. He is a member of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, is a republican in politics, and he and his wife are members of the High Street Methodist Episcopal Church. He was a member of the first Board of Park Commissioners of Springfield, and as such did much to improve the parks. In this connection he has designed and erected bridges in various sections of Springfield, besides which he has designed and built many other bridges in Clark County. In addition to the four sons already mentioned Mr. and Mrs. Bayley have One daughter, Mary, who is the wife of Colonel Joseph Hyde Pratt, present state geologist of North Carolina. ROBERT S. RODGERS. For more than ninety years the Rodgers family has been identified with many of the most important enterprises that have substantially contributed to the growth and development of Springfield. To go no farther back in family ancestry than the birth of its Ohio pioneers in Pennsylvania, their sterling character and business acumen have demonstrated from early days to this that the Old Keystone State nourished a sturdy type of citizen, one worthy of the hearty welcome extended by the sister state to the west. William Rodgers, the first of the name at Springfield, was born in Pennsylvania in 1809. He came here in early manhood and for a time was a partner of Peter Murray in mercantile pursuits. Mr. Rodgers became interested in banking in 1851, first with the old Springfield Bank and later with its successor, the First National Bank. He was an exemplary citizen and courteous gentleman, an early portrait portraying him as a noticeable figure, arrayed in the conventional attire of his day, and of pleasing features and dignified posture. In 1841 he married Miss Sarah Harrison, who was a sister of the wife of his brother, Dr. Robert Rodgers. Dr. Robert Rodgers was born in Pennsylvania, removed from Cumberland County, that state, to Portsmouth, Ohio, in 1832, and from there to Springfield in the following spring. Beside himself and his brother, William, his brother Richard and two half brothers, Rev. James L. and Andrew Denny, also came to Clark County. Dr. Robert Rodgers was one of the early physicians at Springfield, was One of the organizers of the Springfield Bank, and during his entire life was a dominating figure in Clark County. In early manhood he married Miss Effie Harrison, and they had the following children : John H., Richard H. and Isaac W., twins, Frances, James and Sarah H. Richard Henry Rodgers was born at Springfield, Ohio, September 23, 1836, a son of Dr. Robert and Effie (Harrison) Rodgers. He had SPRINGFIELD AND CLARK COUNTY - 105 early school privileges in his native city, and finished his educational training with a course in Wittenberg College. Until 1857 he was successively in the drug business, railroad building and banking (the old Clark County Bank), and for one year after this was in the wholesale and retail carpet business in the City of St. Louis. Upon his return to Springfield he became deputy county treasurer, and served for five years. From then until 1867 he conducted a book store, but from this period on he was actively identified with the manufacturing interests of the city. Associated with him was his twin brother, Isaac W., for a time. With his business partners, Mr. Rodgers manufactured the Superior Grain Drill, one of the manufactured products that have made Springfield, Ohio, known wherever wheat is grown. The firm of which he was a member was succeeded by the present American Seeding Machine Company, which continues to manufacture the amplified Superior Grain Drill. He was an excellent type of the successful business man of his day, thoroughly practical, honest and upright and proud of his business reputation. He was a director in the First National Bank, from which directorate he retired in 1908 and was succeeded by his son, Robert S. Rodgers. In 1866 Mr. Rodgers married Miss Alice Kilgore, who was a daughter of former Congressman Daniel Kilgore of Cadiz, Ohio, who was one of the organizers of the Panhandle Railroad Company. Mrs. Rodgers died February 11, 1884, the mother of three children : Charles K., Robert S. and Effie S., the daughter dying in childhood. Charles K. Rodgers married Florence, a daughter of P. P. Mast, who was one of Springfield's foremost citizens. Mrs. Charles K. Rodgers died in April, 1901, and the death of her husband followed in October, 1902. They had one son, Richard M., who served in the aviation service of the Canadian Government during the World war. He married Jeanne, daughter of B. J. Westcott, and they have two children. Richard Henry Rodgers spent his last years retired from business pursuits. With his father he had become a charter member of the Second Presbyterian Church, from which he retired to assist in organizing the Third Presbyterian, which is now the Northminster Presbyterian Church, of which he was an elder at the time of his death. Robert S. Rodgers is one of Springfield's most prominent, able and trustworthy business men. He was born at Springfield, July 9, 1873, and is the only survivor of his parents' children. His education from boyhood to young manhood was thorough, frOm the primary school and Wittenberg Academy, through three years of preparatory work at Lawrenceville, New Jersey, to Princeton University, where he spent f our years and was graduated in 1896. He fulfilled his father's hope and expectation by then turning his mind to business, entering the office of the Superior Drill Company and continuing with its successor, the American Seeding Machine Company, of which he is secretary. He is also president of the Springfield Dairy Products Company, and holds the same office in the George H. Mellon Company and the Patric Furnace Company, is a director of the First National and Of the American Trust & Savings Banks, and was a member Of the Board of Trustees of the City Hospital from 1918 tO 1922, and of which in 1921 he was president. 106 - SPRINGFIELD AND CLARK COUNTY Mr. Rodgers married, June 5, 1900, Miss Edith Winwood, and they have two daughters, Alice K and Lucinda W. The religious home Of the family is the Northminster Presbyterian Church. Mr. Rodgers has never been unduly active politically nor has fraternal life particularly appealed to him, but, thoroughly companionable, he is a valued member of the Lagonda, Rotary and Country clubs. PHILIP EDWARD MONTANUS. To worthily bear an honored family name that has been known to history not only for years, but for centuries, is the unusual distinction enjoyed by one of the leading citizens of Springfield, Ohio, Philip Edward Montanus, president of the Springfield Machine Tool Company. Mr. Montanus has been a resident of Springfield for almost a half century, but his birth took place at Dresden, Ohio, June 5, 1854. Students of medieval history find that the Montanus family was prominent as early as the third century in Rome, Italy, which was then the seat of civilization. It is probable that the most distinguished of the name was Bishop Montanus, a noted ecclesiastic of the Church of Rome, who was excommunicated because of heretical tendencies. In time the name became known in other countries, particularly in Germany, where generations of the family came and passed away before Philip Montanus, father of Philip Edward Montanus, came upon the scene of life. Philip Montanus was born and reared in Germany. He there was married to Elizabeth Wahl, supported his family by work as a tailor, and until 1854 accepted the conditions that prevailed for all in his modest walk of life in his native country. He was not satisfied, however, for he saw no promising future for himself or his children, and the law of enforced militarism was particularly distasteful to a man of peace. In the spring of 1854 he came to the United States with his wife and children, and in June of that year his son Philip Edward was born on the soil of Ohio. The family home was established at Sidney, in this state, and as soon as possible Mr. Montanus became a naturalized American citizen. To some extent, perhaps, he was handicapped in his business efforts because of an imperfect knowledge of English, but among his new neighbors he found many of his countrymen, and both business and social environment brought comfort and contentment. He learned to love the institutions of his adopted land and was an American in all but birth. Philip Edward Montanus was educated in the parochial and public schools of Sidney, Ohio. His father was a quiet, unostentatious man but practical withal, and when his son had reached the age of sixteen years, he deemed it time the youth should begin to put in practice the lessons of thrift and industry that he had taught his children by example. In 1870 Philip Edward entered a retail drug establishment, and continued in the business until 1887, for twelve years being so engaged at Springfield, to which city he came in 1875. While Mr. Montanus has been prominently identified with other important enterprises at Springfield, he is probably best known as the founder and able director of the Springfield Machine Tool Company. This business he started in 1887, in a small way, as his capital was SPRINGFIELD AND CLARK COUNTY - 107 limited, but from the first he gave it his direct, personal attention and has developed it into one of the important manufacturing industries of this city. Until within the past thirty years ninety per cent of all types of machine tools were made in the Eastern states, but then such pioneers as Mr. Montanus invaded the West, and at the present time, Ohio alone manufacturers more machine tools than all the Eastern states combined. Mr. Montanus was among the first to introduce American made machine tools in Europe, and succeeded in building up a large and profitable trade there, which was temporarily interrupted by the calamity of the World war. He still continues as president of the great business concern he built up, but no longer finds it necessary to attend to any details, this burden now resting on the strong shoulders of his competent sons, Paul A. and Edward S. Montanus. Among other business connections that have reflected credit upon his sagacity and integrity is one from which he retired in 1921, he having been vice president of the Citizens National Bank since its organization and one of its founders. To Mr. Montanus' first marriage, to Miss Hattie Armstrong, three children were born : Paul A., Edward S. and Helen, the daughter dying at the age of seven years. His second marriage was with Miss Adah Bennett, and they have had two children : Josephine and Frederick, the latter dying in infancy. Mr. Montanus and his first family are of the Roman Catholic faith. As conscientious in his political convictions as in religious life and business affairs Mr. Montanus has always been a sincere supporter of the principles of the democratic party, and on several occasions his party has honored him by nominations to high office, first to the State Legislature and second to Congress. Although on both occasions his vote was flattering and in some sections entirely unexpected in strength, but it failed to overcome the great normal majority of the opposing party. One of the attractions of the beautiful grounds near his home is a small lake well stocked, and here Mr. Montanus enjoys fly-fishing and and other outdoor recreations. He takes great interest in the Springfield Park, and is one of its board of commissioners, and is a member of the Commercial and Lagonda clubs. He has a cultivated taste in music, having been director of several church choirs for many years, is an expert player on the zither, and was secretary and treasurer of the Springfield Choral Society. THE LUDLOW FAMILY. Cooper Ludlow, who came to Clark County in 1804, was the progenitor of a long line of that name whose history is inseparably interwoven with that of Springfield. Born in New Jersey, June 11, 1783, he was a son of John Ludlow, who settled at Cincinnati in 1790 and became the first sheriff of Hamilton County. Cooper Ludlow was twice married. By his first wife, who was Elizabeth Reeder, he became the father of Ellen, Mary, Stephen, John and Jacob. To his second marriage, with Elizabeth Layton, a daughter of Judge Joseph Layton, nine children were born : Joseph, Jason, Silas, Abraham R., George, Cornelius, James, Catherine and William. Cooper Ludlow became widely known. In 1804 he came to Clark County and had his home in a log house situated some three miles west 108 - SPRINGFIELD AND CLARK COUNTY of the present site of Springfield. He bought land and traded in livestock and also operated a tannery. But little is knOwn of his children by his first wife except of his second son, John, who, with the passing of time, became the acknowledged fountain head of Clark County history, as well as its foremost citizen. John Ludlow, or Dr. John Ludlow, as he was generally known, was born December 9, 1810, and was reared amid pioneer surroundings. At the time Of his birth our secOnd war with Great Britain had not been fought. Springfield was but twenty years old. Indians, often hostile, were numerous in the immediate neighborhood. Wild game could be secured for food without leaving the cabin doorstep. It was amid such an environment that John Ludlow passed his boyhood and reached manhood. He selected pharmacy as his vocation in life, and after a period of preliminary training in Cincinnati embarked in that line at Springfield and continued in it many years. He became interested in other avenues vitally affecting the material welfare of the community. As early as 1851 he became a director of the Springfield Bank, and upon the death of Judge Oliver Clark, succeeded him as its president. This bank was the immediate predecessor of the present First National Bank. On August 31, 1835, Dr. Ludlow married Elmina Getman, daughter of Frederick and Mary Getman, of Herkimer County, New York, and to them were born three children : Ellen, who became the wife of Asa F. Bushnell, who later became governor of Ohio, and Frederick and Charles. For more than forty years Doctor Ludlow was a member of Christ Episcopal Church, and his many unostentatious deeds of charity and acts of benevolence indicated a true and sincere Christianity. At the time of the organization of the Ferncliff Cemetery Association Doctor Ludlow was instrumental in having its foundation of such a character that the cemetery has since become recognized as one of the natural beauty spots of Ohio. For years he was one of the most active and valued members of the Clark County Historical Society. Abraham R. Ludlow was the fourth son born to the second marriage of Cooper Ludlow, and the house in which his birth occurred on May 6, 1826, is still standing on Main Street, Springfield. His boyhood and early youth passed without any notable occurrences outside of the home circle. He learned the trade of brick-laying and later engaged in contracting, the Western school building at Main and Yellow Springs streets being a remaining example of his work. In the early '60s, in partnership with a brother-in-law, Alphonso Farrell, he embarked in the foundry business, which was connected with the old Blakeny-Leffel water wheel works, and later bought the Williams Distillery Building on Limestone Street, near the present site Of the D. T. & I. railroad depot. It was here that the firm began the manufacture of brickmaking machinery in connection with general foundry work. About 1870 a re-organization was effected, and the concern then became the Farrell, Ludlow & Chorpening Company, manufacturers of corn-planters. This corporation induced C. C. Patrie to remove from the East to Springfield and entrust to them the manufacture of the Patric patent Superior Grain Drill. Upon the purchase of the Chorpening interest by Richard and Isaac Rodgers, brothers, the firm name became Farrell, Ludlow & Rodgers, and about 1875 Joseph and Charles Thomas succeeded to the SPRINGFIELD AND CLARK COUNTY - 109 interests Of Farrell & Rodgers. From that time until 1881 the firm had the name of Thomas, Ludlow & Rodgers. In 1881 Abraham R. Ludlow severed his connection with the business, of which he was one of the original founders, and shortly thereafter bought the Springfield Malleable Iron Company plant, which he operated until his death. To the marriage of Abraham R. Ludlow and Catherine Elizabeth Seaman children were born, f our of whom reached maturity : Jason S., Rodney F., Thurston W. and Dora Bell, the only present survivor being Thurston W. Abraham R. Ludlow was a man of broad mind and high ideals. It was not mere pecuniary gain that actuated his efforts. He had the higher vision of success in life, and his kindness of heart and generous disposition endeared him to all. In the early days he was a member Of the City Council, and he was one of the organizers of the first paid fire department. He venerated sacred things, and the High Street Methodist Episcopal Church, which he helped tO organize, was a beneficiary of his membership and benef actions for years. He was an Original follower and supporter of Francis Murphy in the cause of temperance, and later he politically allied himself with the prohibition party. In the campaign in which Charles Foster was the republican and John W. Bookwalter the democratic candidate, Mr. Ludlow was the prohibition candidate for the governorship of the state, his defeat in no wise diminishing his interest in the cause. Jason S. Ludlow, eldest son Of Abraham R. Ludlow, had a youth of great promise but did not long survive manhood. He married Elizabeth G. Phillips, and their one son, Abraham Phillips, is also deceased. Rodney F. Ludlow, whO died in 1918, was prominent as a consulting engineer. He was born at Springfield in 1856 and was educated in the public schools and Wooster University. Until 1894 he was associated with the Springfield Malleable Iron Company, and then went to Philadelphia as a consulting engineer. He married Carrie L. Smith, and they had six children : Alden R., Benjamin F., Anna, Mida, Elizabeth and Catherine. The elder son, Alden R., resides at Great Neck, New York, and his work in connection with acetylene welding has brought him prominence in his line. Benjamin F. Ludlow attained distinction in the law and in politics in the City of Philadelphia, and his relatives are justly proud of the distinguished part he had in the World war activities. Thurston W. Ludlow, who is one of Springfield's foremost citizens, was born in this city, January 21, 1858. He attended the public schools, and completed his scholastic training with a course at Wooster University. As an accountant he entered the service of the Springfield Malleable Iron Company in April, 1879, has continued with it ever since and is its present president and directing head. He is alsO vice president of the Springfield Savings Society, and is a trustee of the Fern-cliff Cemetery Association and of the City Hospital, and is an important and mOst active member of the Springfield Chamber of Commerce, in which he has been a factor for years. Mr. Ludlow married, September 22, 1881, Miss Carrie Trader, who died in February, 1918. She was the dearly beloved mother of four children : Harold, deceased, and Thurston ROsecranz, Dora Elizabeth 110 - SPRINGFIELD AND CLARK COUNTY and Catherine. Thurston Rosecranz Ludlow is of the fourth generation of his family tO have lived in Clark County. He is the present secretary of the Springfield Malleable Iron Company. He married Miss Elizabeth Geddes, who is a daughter of James L. Geddes, a prominent manufacturer Of Springfield. Thurston W. Ludlow is a republican, but no tender of political preferment has been able to separate him from the field of active business. He is a member of the Lagonda, Country and Rotary clubs. EDWARD W. SIMPSON. A name that for over eighty years has been known and honored at Springfield is that of Simpson. It still represents, in a worthy representative of today, Edward W. Simpson, of this city, high character, business success and citizenship that has, as it were, been "tried by fire." Edward W. Simpson was born at Springfield, Ohio, April 2, 1845. His parents were George and Esther (Walker) Simpson. George Simpson was born in 1812 in Yorkshire, England, where he learned the trade of millwright. He married there Esther Walker, and in 1840 came to the United States with his family, stopping first at Columbus, Ohio. His Objective point, however, was Springfield, where an English friend, Christopher Thompson, had settled, and, as at that time there were no railroads between the two places, the Simpson family covered the distance on foot. Mr. Thompson in later years became president of the Lagonda National Bank. George Simpson was endowed with both business energy and good judgment. In his earlier years at Springfield he followed his trade and in 1850 built the first public school structure on the corner of Yellow Springs and Main streets, and he also was the builder of the doors of the old locomotive round house Of the Pennsylvania Railroad. He was one of the first to recognize the commercial value of the water power of Mill Run and had much to do with the subsequent development along this stream, operating both saw and gristmills of his own. Later he bought extensive tracts of timber land in Michigan and established lumber yards at Detroit and at Springfield. When the Civil war came on George Simpson enlisted in Company A, Ninety-fourth Ohio Volunteer Infantry and served to its close, not only in this way proving his love for the Union but additionally giving three sons to the cause : Joseph, Edward W. and George, the last named being but twelve years old when he went out as a drummer boy with the Seventy-fourth Ohio Volunteer Infantry. The eldest brother, Joseph Simpson, served first in the Fourth Ohio Infantry and then re-enlisted in the Thirteenth Ohio Cavalry, and later had a leg shattered in battle. George Simpson died November 27, 1887, the father of seven children. In early political life he attached himself to the whig party but subsequently became a republican. He reared his family in the faith of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Edward W. Simpson is one of the two surviving members of his parents' family. His school days ended when he was thirteen years old, at which time he went to work in the shops, first of Steele & Winger and later of Whitely, Fassler & Kelly, and it was while working for the latter firm that he enlisted, in 1861, in the Union Army, becoming a SPRINGFIELD AND CLARK COUNTY - 111 member of Company F, Fifty-fourth Ohio Infantry, afterward re-enlisting in Company K, Third United States Cavalry. It was hard discipline for a boy of seventeen years. Mr. Simpson was captured by the enemy in a skirmish near Benton, Arkansas, and was confined at Camden, that state, being sent later to Shreveport, Louisiana, to Marshall and to Tyler, Texas, and was at the latter place when the Confederates surrendered. Long imprisonment and rough usage had wrecked his health, and he was sent to New Orleans and from there to his home on "unlimited furlough," but he surprised his officers and comrades by rapid recuperation. He reported for duty at headquarters in Columbus and was returned tO his regiment, then encamped at Little Rock, Arkansas. Later he was sent to Arkadelphia, in an official capacity, and still later was placed in charge of the collection of confiscated cotton along the Red River. Mr. Simpson was then assigned at Fort Smith, Arkansas, to command the establishing of a wooden water route across what is now Indian Territory and Oklahoma, the lack of water causing great suffering in many parts of the then arid states. During this mission he saw millions of deer and buffalo, not to mention unfriendly Indians. He was then on detached service with United States Surveyor Steck in connection with the Government survey, and after this was sent as an escort for the first territorial representative of Arizona to a point where he could secure safe passage to Washington, D. C. In the fall of 1866, the Indian menace became so great that ordinary communication through their hostile territory was deemed impossible, and it was at this time that such known brave soldiers as Mr. Simpson and his two picked comrades undertook the hazardous mission of carrying orders from Fort Selden, New Mexico, to Fort Beard, New Mexico. Although he risked his life every moment and on one occasion was lost for a time, he finally reached the friendly military fort in safety and successfully performed the duty assigned him. When he was finally discharged in 1867 he held the commission of sergeant, and at that time had the distinction of being the youngest sergeant in the United States Army. Mr. Simpson made his way back to civilization as far as Fort Leavenworth in a prairie schooner, and thence by rail to Springfield, and shortly afterward quietly went back tO shop work, his days of danger and adventure, during which he had many times proved a hero, being left behind. Later he became a lumber inspector and eventually succeeded his father in his lumber enterprises. He has been an active and useful citizen in many ways. For twelve years he served as chief of the Springfield Fire Department, and was secretary of one of the first building and loan associations. Mr. Simpson married, January 28, 1873, Miss Mary B., daughter of Jonathan Renner. Their one son, Charles, died in infancy. They are members of the Third Lutheran Church. He belOngs to the Knights of Pythias, the G. A. R. and the Sons of Veterans. WILLIAM C. TRUMBO, of the Taggart-Trumbo Company, wholesale and retail dealers in coal and builders' supplies in the City Of Springfield, is a popular representative in the third generation of one of the honored pioneer families of Clark County. 112 - SPRINGFIELD AND CLARK COUNTY In 1834 Silas Trumbo set forth from what is now Pendleton County, West Virginia, and made his way on horseback, much of the distance through a virtual wilderness, to Clark County, Ohio, where kinsman and other friends of his had previously located. He was a nephew of Rev. Saul Henkle, a pioneer Methodist preacher in this section of Ohio and one of the early clerks of Clark County. Silas Trumbo was a stonemason and bricklayer by trade, and after coming to Ohio he assisted in laying the foundation for the first building of the Clark County Infirmary. Later on he worked at the carpenter trade and at carriage-making. In 1838 he married Hulda Downs, of Urbana, and they established their home in the little village of Donnelsville, Clark County, where they passed the remainder of their lives, he having died in 1900 and she in 1891. Silas Trumbo was one of the founders and became a class-leader of the First Methodist Episcopal Church at Donnelsville. He served forty years as justice of the peace and held other local offices of public trust, including those of township trustee and school trustee. Of the ten children, six are now living (1922). Two of the sons served as gallant soldiers of the Union in the Civil war. Levi M. was a member of Company C, One Hundred and Tenth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and died in 1862, of pneumonia, while with his regiment at the front. William L. served in the One Hundred and Forty-eighth Ohio Volunteer Infantry. Joseph B. Trumbo, son of Silas and Hulda (Downs) Trumbo, was born December 3, 1847, and died March 20, 1922, one of the venerable and honored citizens of his native county. He acquired his early education in the common schools of the day and thereafter worked with his father at wagonmaking. In 1881 he engaged in the retail grocery business at Donnelsville, where he continued his active association with the enterprise for thirty-eight years, during twenty-one of which he was postmaster of that village. In 1881 he was elected trustee of Bethel Township, and after serving nearly ten years in this office he resigned the same to assume that of county commissioner, to which latter office he was elected in 1890 and in which he served two full terms and about ten months additional, owing to a change in the law. He served continuously as a member of the school board of Donnelsville from 1904 to 1917, and in 1918 he removed to the City of Springfield. In 1876 was solemnized the marriage of Joseph B. Trumbo and Miss Estelle Gardner, and they have five children : Maude A. (wife of Dr. Edwin S. Todd), William C., Lodema (Mrs. W. L. Nyswander), Silas B. and Gale B. Silas B. was in the nation's military service in the World war period, was stationed in turn at Fort Oglethorpe and Camp Gordon, and held the rank of first sergeant at the latter camp at the time when the armistice was signed. Joseph B. Trumbo was a stalwart republican in his political affiliation and he and his wife were long zealous members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. William C. Trumbo, eldest Of the three sons, was born in Bethel Township, this county, on the 1st day of March, 1879, and after having there attended the district schools he continued his studies in the Springfield High School. He then took a course in the Nelson Business College. For several years he was in the employ of the Springfield Gas Company, with which he filled various executive positions, and in 1913 SPRINGFIELD AND CLARK COUNTY - 113 he became deputy county treasurer under Frank A. Crothers. Of this position he continued the incumbent until September, 1917, when he became county treasurer, to which office he was elected in 1916 and in which he served two consecutive terms, or four years. In April, 1919, he became one of the principals of the- Taggart-Trumbo Company, and since his retirement from the office of county treasurer he has given his active attention to the business in which he is thus interested. He is one of the active workers in the local ranks of the republican party, and he and his wife are members of the High Street Methodist Episcopal Church. He is affiliated with the Masonic fraternity and the Knights of Pythias, and in his native county his circle of friends is coincident with that of his acquaintances. In 1905 Mr. Trumbo wedded Miss Mabel Beard, of Mad River Township, Clark County, and her death occurred November 13, 1918, no children surviving her. In 1919 Mr. Trumbo married Miss Virginia Persinger, and they have one daughter, Sara. JAMES L. WELSH, who is serving as a valued member of the Board of County Commissioners of Clark County, of which he was formerly sheriff, has been a business man of prominence in the City of Springfield and is known and honored as one of the broad-gauged and progressive citizens of the county. His residence in the City of Springfield is at 2565 East High Street. Mr. Welsh was born on a farm five miles west of Mechanicsburg, Champaign County, Ohio, on the 4th of November, 1863, and is a son of John and Rebecca (Spry) Welsh, the former of whom was born in Virginia and the latter in Champaign County, Ohio, where the Spry family settled about the year 1801 and became actively associated with pioneer development and progress. John Welsh was an infant at the time of his parents' removal from Virginia to Champaign County, Ohio, where his father, Levi Welsh, became a prosperous farmer, besides having assisted in the construction of the old National Road. He continued his residence in that county until his death, November 4, 1854. John Welsh became extensively engaged in farm enterprise in Champaign County, and in 1878 he came with his family to Clark County, and operated a large farm in Moorefield Township. He was one of the venerable and honored citizens of this county at the time of his death, which occurred at the home of his son James L., in 1916, when he was eighty-one years of age, his wife having passed away in 1893. Of their five children James L., of this sketch, is the eldest ; John, Jr., who was for many years engaged in the dry-goods business at Springfield, is now a merchant in the City of San Diego, California ; Miss Lousetta May died when comparatively a young woman ; Newton is engaged in the livery business at Springfield ; and Fanny, who became the wife of Charles Shafer, died at the age of thirty-two years. That James L. Welsh made good use of his early educational advantages is shown in the fact that at the age of seventeen years he became a successful teacher in a district school, his emolument for this service having been $100 for the term of three months. He continued his effective labors in the pedagogic profession seventeen years, and in the meanwhile advanced his own education by attending the normal depart- Vol. II--8 114 - SPRINGFIELD AND CLARK COUNTY ment of Wittenberg College and the normal school at Lebanon, under Professor Holbrook. For nine years he taught in the graded schools of Oakdale, and he gave four years service as a teacher in Congress Hall, in Springfield Township. In the summer vacations Mr. Welsh was a traveling representative of the Champion Machine Company, and in this connection he visited virtually all of the grain-producing states of the Union, as well as Manitoba, Canada. He later became general agent for the Osborne Machine Company of New York for Southwestern Ohio, and maintained headquarters in the City of Cincinnati. After retiring from this position he opened a farm implement store at Springfield for the handling of all kinds of farm implements and machinery. Mr. Riggle, another veteran salesman for the Osborne Company, was his partner in the business three years, and for three years thereafter the enterprise was conducted under the firm name of Welsh & Watkins, with Daniel Watkins as junior member. Mr. Watkins was succeeded by Newton Welsh, and thereafter the business was continued under the title Welsh Brothers about four years. After the retirement of Newton Welsh, James L. Welsh continued the business in an independent way until 1917, when he sold the stock and business, after having been successfully engaged in this line of enterprise fifteen consecutive years. In 1916 Mr.Welsh was elected sheriff of Clark County, as candidate on the republican ticket, on a strictly Dry Platform and Law Enforcement, and in this office he served two terms of two years each. While making an arrest of a drink-crazed criminal Mr. Welsh_ was shot in the leg, the injury causing a permanent shortening of the member. While still sheriff he was, in 1920, elected a County Commissioner, and he has been in active and effective service in this office since September 19, 1921. He has been a loyal and influential figure in the local councils and campaign of the republican party. He and his wife are zealous members of the United Presbyterian Church in their home city, both having been specially active in the work of its Sunday School, besides which Mr. Welsh has served as vice president and president of the Clark County Sunday School Association, in which he is at the present time superintendent of the adult department. He is affiliated with the Lodge of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and Mad River Encampment ; the Lodge and Uniformed Rank of the Knights of Pythias ; the local council of the United Commercial Travelers ; and the Springfield Council of the Junior Order of United American Mechanics. Mr. Welsh married Miss Louie E. Dugan August 5, 1890. She was born and reared near Springfield. They have no children. Mrs. Welsh is influential in the local organization of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union and in various departments of the work of the United Presbyterian Church of Springfield. JOHN E. MILLER. In the life histories of men who have attained to places of prominence through the medium of their own efforts there is always to be found something of interest and value to the youth who is starting out to make his own way in the world. The lessons set forth by the lives of self-made men should be included in the training of each aspiring youth. There is nothing so stimulating to ambition as the SPRINGFIELD AND CLARK COUNTY - 115 thought that what man has done man can do. With the illustration before him of the obstacles overcome, the hard-fought battles won and the final success attained, even the young man facing the greatest of disadvantages may well take heart and apply himself to his task with a feeling of confidence. In the career of John E. Miller, vice president and manufacturing director of the Crowell Publishing Company of Springfield, owners and publishers of The American Magazine, Woman's Home Companion, Colliers, The National Weekly, Farm and Fireside, and The Mentor, there are to be found these lessons. The success which he has attained within a comparatively few short years, the position which he occupies among Springfield's business men, and the regard and confidence in which he is universally held are attractive enough in themselves to inspire emulation, and when it is considered that all have been gained by his own endeavors the lessons become of incalculable value. Mr. Miller was born at Delphos, Ohio, January 30, 1881, and received his primary educational training in the public schools of that place. Owing to the death of his father when he was a lad of fifteen years his educational plans were disarranged, but he managed to complete his course at the Delphos High School, from which he was graduated as a member of the class of 1897. For several years, as a thrifty and energetic youngster, he turned his hand to any honorable employment that presented itself, without settling down to any one line of work, but in 1902 he came to Springfield as chief clerk to the car accountant of the Detroit Southern Railroad. After two years with that road he entered the service of the Amering Seeding Machine Company, but shortly thereafter was employed by the International Harvester Company and served in the accounting department until the end of August, 1905. On September 1 of that year he became bookkeeeper and cashier of the Kelly Springfield Road Roller Company, with which concern he remained until October, 1912, when he identified himself with the Crowell Publishing Company, a concern with which he has since remained. His first titles were office manager and accountant, and from April 15, 1916, until February, 1920, he was general superintendent, since which time he has held the positions of vice president and manufacturing director. While Mr. Miller admits that there is something unusual in his quick rise from obscurity to prominence, without advantages or outside assistance, he states that an equal chance is open to every American youth possessed of ambition and will. In his own case he modestly asserts that fortuitous circumstances played a large part in his rise, but it is reasonable to suppose that had he not possessed the brain capacity, the initiative, the eternal watchfulness and the constant industry he would lot have won success even though all the circumstances in the world had been in his favor. Mr. Miller has numerous important business connections, and is a member of the Lagonda Club, the Springfield Country Club, the Rotary Club and the Chamber of Commerce. On June 27, 1905, Mr. Miller was united in marriage with Miss Gertrude Emma Blumenstiel, of Springfield. EARL NEWTON MILLER. The packing interests, like others of importance, are well looked after at Springfield, and a leading concern 116 - SPRINGFIELD AND CLARK COUNTY is the Springfield Abattoir Company, which has been developed in the last quarter of a century by its present owner and manager, Earl Newton Miller, who formerly was identified with the great packing house of Swift & Company. Mr. Miller's modern plant takes precedence over the majority of others in Ohio, and has a commercial trade field that insures over $1,000,000 annual average of business. Earl Newton Miller was born in Clark County, Ohio, the youngest of a family of seven children born to Samuel Newton and Cassandra M. (Baker) Miller. Samuel Newton Miller, or as he was usually known, Newton Miller, was born in Clark County, on his father's farm in Mad River Township. He was a son of Daniel Miller, a native of Maryland, who was the first of this branch of the Miller family to come to Clark County. He settled as a pioneer near Enon in Mad River Township, cleared land and prospered as a farmer. Here Samuel Newton Miller was born June 30, 1819, and grew to manhood. His educational privileges were limited, but his intellect was quick and, almost entirely self-educated, he became a man of general information and sound judgment. He followed general farming and found it profitable to specialize on potatoes. Although a man of peace and a life long member of the Christian Church, when the Civil war was precipitated he was one of the first in his neighborhood to offer his services, and served out an enlistment of three months. He married Cassandra M. Baker, who was born May 13, 1822, and died in March, 1896, surviving her husband, whose death occurred in September, 1887. He was a consistent Christian man, and he reared his family to be loyal to each other, their church and their country. For many years he was a church class leader and superintendent of the Sunday School, and as he was gifted with a fine voice, was the leader of the choir. Earl Newton Miller spent his boyhood and early manhood on the home farm, in the meantime gaining a first-class public school education. In the spring of 1883 he moved to Springfield, where he conducted a fruit store for a time and then engaged in handling livestock, and, in a small way, also dealt in meat. In 1892 he entered the employ of the Swift Packing Company, and for the next five years managed their branch establishment at Springfield. In 1897 he came to his present location on Rockaway Street, west of Fountain Avenue, where he began for himself in the packing industry, in a building 50 by 25 feet. This was the nucleus of his present extensive plant operated as the Springfield Abattoir Company, where the immense volume of business requires the assistance of forty-five workers. As may be inferred, a large amount of capital is invested, and only trained service can insure the satisfactory preparation and production of the choice meat products such as are demanded by the public today, and incidentally it may be added that only an exceedingly clear-headed, capable business man can manage such a business successfully. On January 23, 1878, Mr. Miller married Miss Frances Dunkle, and they have one daughter, Alpha, who is the wife of Dr. R. E. Tuloss, president of Wittenberg College. Mr. Miller and his wife attend the Methodist Episcopal Church. In political opinion he is a republican. Although never consenting to hold a public office, he has been a most active and earnest citizen in promoting the best interests of the city, SPRINGFIELD AND CLARK COUNTY - 117 and so confident are his neighbors in his integrity that they often follow his lead in public-spirited movements and in matters pertaining to the general welfare. CLARENCE H. KAY, M. D., has been prominent in . the medical profession at Springfield for many years. He was born in this city, October 28, 1856, and is a son of the late Dr. Isaac Kay. After completing his literary education he decided to study the science of medicine and so took a preparatory course under the supervision of his father. He entered Miami Medical College in 1880, and was graduated from that institution in 1882, Until his father died Dr. Kay was associated with him in practice and since then has been alone. On many occasions since receiving his medical decree he has taken post-graduate courses, under Dr. William Taylor, in the Cincinnati City Hospital, and at other medical centers, has specialized in electro-therapy and thermo-therapy, and has long been a close student of psychology. He is a member of the Ohio State and the Clark County Medical societies. Dr. Kay married in 1881 Miss Florence Wilson. They are members of the Covenant Presbyterian Church. At one time Dr. Kay was president of the Board of Education at Springfield, and for fourteen years he was physician in charge of the Clark County Infirmary. He is a member of the Masonic fraternity. THE ROBBINS FAMILY has left its name deeply and worthily impressed on the history of Springfield. Rev. Chandler Robbins was the first of the family to come to Clark County. His ancestral line traces back to one of the Pilgrim Fathers who came to America on the first voyage of the historic ship "Mayflower." Isaac Robbins, father of the Rev. Chandler Robbins, was born in one of the New England states, but was for many years a resident of Alexandria, Virginia, where he was identified with banking enterprise, where he served as a local preacher of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and where was solemnized his marriage with Mary Douglas Howell. Rev. Chandler Robbins was born at Alexandria, Virginia, but the greater part of his education was obtained in New England, he having worked as a cabinetmaker to defray the expenses of his higher education. He completed his theological course in the Wesleyan University at Middletown, Connecticut, and in the same was graduated. In 1841 he came to Springfield, Ohio, to assume charge of the Methodist Episcopal High School, a leading educational institution of the town at that time. His service in this pedagogic capacity continued about five years, and for the ensuing three years he occupied the chair of ancient languages in Augusta College, Kentucky. He then returned to Springfield, and here he established and conducted a select school, which did splendid service in the education of young men and women and in the inculcation of high ideals. A man of fine intellectuality and earnest stewardship, Mr. Robbins wielded large and benignant influence and was known as one of the leading educators in this part of Ohio in his day. He finally transferred his membership to the Protestant Episcopal Church, and at Christ Church, Springfield, he was ordained a deacon, later being 118 - SPRINGFIELD AND CLARK COUNTY ordained to the priesthood and becoming rector of this parish. Consecrated zeal marked his course as a churchman and clergyman, and his memory is revered by all who came within the sphere of his benignant influence. Rev. Chandler Robbins wedded Miss Laura Cooper, a daughter of Judge Samuel Cooper, and she proved his devoted companion and gracious helpmeet until his death, in May, 1871, at Springfield. Mrs. Robbins died in December, 1887, at Suffolk, Virginia, to which state she had gone for the benefit of her health. Of their children three attained to years of maturity : Elizabeth, Chandler and Mary D. Chandler Robbins, son of Rev. Chandler Robbins, was born in February, 1844, and he gained his early scholastic discipline under the effective preceptorship of his honored father. He was seventeen years Of age when, in 1861, he manifested his youthful patriotism by enlisting for service as a soldier of the Union in the Civil war. He became a member of Company B, Eighty-sixth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and after serving four and one-half months he received his honorable discharge. In 1863 he re-enlisted, and after serving four months with the Seventeenth Ohio Battery of Artillery he was transferred to Company I, Eightieth United States Colored Troops and given commission as second lieutenant. He continued in active service until 1866, and in receiving his honorable discharge he was given the brevet rank of captain. He was in Louisiana at this time, and he there rented a plantation, to the operation of which he gave his attention until the following year, when his crops were destroyed by flood. He then returned to Springfield, and here he was identified with various lines of enterprise until 1873, when he went to New Mexico and, as a civil engineer, assisted in the governmental surveys in the territory. In 1875 he was appointed United States surveyor and astronomer, and assumed the contract for the surveying and defining of the boundary line between New Mexico and Arizona, and to lay out the Mojave Indian Reservation, he having been at this time about thirty years of age. In 1876 Mr. Robbins returned to Springfield, and in 1878 he purchased the plant and business of the Lever Wringer Company. The factory was destroyed by fire in 1880, and its rebuilding was followed by a period of industrial success for the enterprise, which finally developed into the important industry now conducted under the title of the Robbins & Myers Company. In the early '90s Mr. Robbins became connected with the Chicago Sewing Machine Company, and the company within a short time thereafter became actively concerned in the manufacturing of bicycles, the title of the Monarch Bicycle Company being adopted and Mr. Robbins, as an officer of the company, having for a few years maintained his executive headquarters in the City of New York. In 1898 he returned to Springfield, and after disposing of his holdings in the Robbins & Myers Company he gave much of his time and attention to agricultural enterprise, in which he was especially successful. On the Scioto Marsh in Hardin County he raised on forty acres of land in a single year a crop of onions that brought in market an aggregate of $30,000. Chandler Robbins wedded Miss Meta M. Hunt in 1877, and they became the parents of three children : Chandler (died in infancy), Wil- SPRINGFIELD AND CLARK COUNTY - 119 liam H. and Douglas. Mr. Robbins died on the 18th of August, 1921, his wife having passed away on the 8th of June of the preceding year. Mr. Robbins was a man of fine character and exceptional business ability, and the circle of his friends was limited only by that of his acquaintances. Both he and his wife were earnest communicants of the Protestant Episcopal Church. William H. Robbins was born May 31, 1880. After attending the public schools he continued his studies in turn in the Haverford Grammar School, Cheltenham Military Academy and Wittenberg College, besides which he took special courses in agriculture in the University of Wisconsin and the Iowa State Agricultural College. He was actively engaged in farm enterprise until the nation became involved in the great World war, when he entered the First Officers Training Camp at Fort Benjamin Harrison, Indianapolis, Indiana, where he gained commission as first lieutenant. In June, 1918, he sailed for France, and there he was promoted captain. As a member of the Three Hundred and Thirty-second United States Infantry he went to Italy, and there he took part in the battle of Vittorio-Veneto. After the signing of the armistice Captain Robbins was assigned to special service in investigating food conditions in certain parts of Serbia and Hungary for Secretary Hoover. In May, 1919, he returned to the United States, and he received his honorable discharge with the brevet rank of major. He has since given the greater part of his time to his executive duties as treasurer and general manager of the Williams Company, an important industrial corporation at London, Madison County, Ohio, though he still retains his residence at Springfield. Major Robbins is a republican, is affiliated with the Masonic f raternity, and he and his wife are communicants of Christ Church, Protestant Episcopal, in their home city. December 10, 1903, recorded the marriage of Major Robbins and Miss Lucie Rebecca Morrow, daughter of John Morrow of Springfield, and the three children of this union are : Georgeanna Douglas, Lucie Morrow and Elisabeth Chandler. Douglas Robbins, younger son of the late Chandler Robbins, was born December 19, 1883, and after completing his literary education he became an art student in the City of New York. Later he continued his art studies and work under Howard Helmick in Washington, D. C. ; at the Art League in New York City ; at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn ; and, finally, in Paris, France. He was in New York during a portion of the period of the World war, and there assisted the French Consulate in a clerical capacity. OLIVER C. CLARKE. Veteran honors in the abstract of title business in Clark County go to Oliver C. Clarke, who has lived in Springfield all his life, and two generations of his family preceded him here. Mr. Clarke has been active in the business life of the city for forty years. His grandparents, Oliver and Elizabeth (Strong) Clarke, were both natives of New England, and they went south to the State of Georgia to teach school. Their own children, however, they could not permit to remain and grow up in an influence blighted by the institution of slavery, and, therefore, in 1837 they came north to Ohio. Oliver 120 - SPRINGFIELD AND CLARK COUNTY Clarke acquired 180 acres of land in Clark County, and practically all of that property is now within the city limits of Springfield. He was a man of much force of character, well versed in general affairs, and was elected and served as one of the judges of the Court of Common Pleas. He died in 1855. Oliver Clark also at one time was president of the old Springfield Bank, out of which the present First National Bank is a modern development. Oliver Clark was reared a Presbyterian, but in Springfield became a charter member of the First Congregational Church. He and his wife had nine children, all now deceased. The son, Charles E. Clarke, was born in Georgia, July 25, 1830, and was seven years of age when brought by his parents to Springfield. He was reared and educated here, began his active career as clerk in a store, and later was in a book and publishing house at Dayton. Early in the Civil war he joined a friend who was adjutant general of the State of Missouri, and was assigned to the commissary department, with the rank of captain. Subsequently he was promoted to major. After the war he established himself in business at Independence, Missouri, and laid the foundation of his fortune in the lumber business. He also lived three years at Fort Scott, Kansas, and from there returned to Springfield, where he spent the rest of his life and where he died in March, 1876. Charles E. Clarke married Mary Christie, and their two children were Frances, now deceased, and Oliver C. Charles E. Clarke was an able business man, quiet and unassuming in character, and earned the respect and honor of all who knew him. Oliver C. Clarke, son of the late Major Clarke, was born in Springfield, July 9, 1861. He was educated in the public schools of that city, and graduated from Wittenberg College in 1883. Mr. Clarke has been in the abstract of title business in Springfield for twenty-seven years. He is also one of the directors in the Merchants and Mechanics Savings and Loan Association. He married Jessie Allen in 1918, and they have one daughter, Emily. JOHN N. GARVER, who is now engaged in the real estate business upon an extensive scale, with headquarters in the City of Springfield, has had a somewhat varied professional and business career, in which he has been prominently identified with newspaper and periodical publishing. He is a native of Clark County, Ohio, and a representative of a family that was here founded more than ninety years ago. In 1831 Abraham and Elizabeth (Rice) Garver, accompanied by their seven children, came from the part of Virginia that now constitutes the State of West Virginia, with team and covered wagon along the rough trails and through the forest wilds until they reached their destination in Clark County, Ohio, where they settled on a partly reclaimed tract of school land in Bethel Township. There Abraham Garver and his wif e passed the remainder of their lives, and they bore well their part in connection with the early stages of civic and industrial development in the county. Their son Benjamin. C. was born near Harpers Ferry, Jefferson County, Virginia (now West Virginia), in 1829, and thus was a child of about two years at the time of the family removal to Ohio, SPRINGFIELD AND CLARK COUNTY - 121 where he was reared on his father's pioneer farm, in the work of which he early began to assist, the while he attended the rural schools of the locality during the winter months, when his services were not in requisition on the home farm. After his marriage to Miss Ruth Rohrer, of Springfield, he established their home on the old farmstead of his father in Bethel Township, and continued his operations as an agriculturist and stock-grower there until 1884, when he removed with his family to Kansas. He passed several years in the Sunflower State, where he gained his quota of pioneer experience, and the last two years of his life were passed in the home of his daughter in Oklahoma, where he died in 1909, at the age of eighty years, his wife having preceded him to eternal rest. They became the parents of eleven children, of whom eight sons and one daughter attained to maturity, two daughters having died in infancy. Three of the sons reside at Springfield, John N. and Walter B. being associated in the real estate business, and James L. being a commercial traveling salesman. John N. Garver was born on the old home farm in Bethel Township, Clark County, September 28, 1858, and he profited in his boyhood and youth by the discipline of the farm. After attending the public schools and an academy he entered the Ohio Wesleyan University at Delaware, from which he was graduated in 1882 with the degree of Bachelor of Arts. Thereafter he was for a time a commercial traveler for the Superior Drill Company of Springfield, and he then followed his father to Kansas and began the study of law at Emporia. He soon abandoned these studies to accept a reportorial position with the Emporia News. Incidentally he began to make examination of land titles, in the interest of Eastern investers who were extending loans on Kansas real estate. This experience in time led to his removal to Kansas City to work in a similar capacity for the New England Trust Company. Like many another devotee, he was not long able to restrain his predilection for journalism, and in 1886 he became editor of the Sioux City (Iowa) Tribune. In the following year, in association with A. D. Hosterman, a former Springfield boy, he founded the Lincoln Newspaper Union, auxiliary publishers to supply printed sheets to country newspapers, but in the following year they sold the business to the Western Newspaper Union. In the autumn of that year Mr. Garver returned to Springfield, and on the 21st of November, 1888, married here Miss Anna Geiger, daughter of Professor H. R. Geiger, a member of the faculty of Wittenberg College. In the same year, in association with others, Mr. Garver purchased The Republic and The Champion City Times, which two Springfield daily papers were then consolidated under the title of The Republic-Times. Mr. Garver became advertising manager of the paper, which became a power in the local field, and when, in 1892 the owners of this newspaper property purchased the Peoria Morning Transcript, at Peoria, Illinois, Mr. Garver assumed charge of the latter as publisher and general manager. He remained five years at Peoria, in 1897 returning to Springfield, where shortly afterward he purchased The Farm News and a publication entitled Womankind, which latter he afterward sold to W. D. Boyce of Chicago. He continued the publication of the Farm News until 1906, when he sold the plant and prosperous business to the Simmons Publishing Company. In the period 122 - SPRINGFIELD AND CLARK COUNTY since that time he has given his attention principally to the real estate business, in which he at first specialized in the handling of Western lands. The business now conducted involves the handling of all kinds of realty, both city and country, and the operations extend into several other states. Mr. Garver is an advocate of the principles of the republican party, and from 1905 to 1911 he was a member of the City Council of Springfield, being one of the republican leaders of that body. In 1908 he was president of the Springfield Commercial Club. He is a Knight Templar Mason and a member of the Mystic Shrine, and of the Phi Kappa Psi college fraternity, as are also his two sons, who likewise are graduates of his alma mater, the Ohio Wesleyan University. The two oldest daughters, who are graduates of Vassar College, were actively engaged in war work in Washington, D. C., during the period of American participation in the World war. Mr. Garver is a member of the Springfield Chamber of Commerce, the Springfield Country Club, and the High Street Methodist Episcopal Church. His first wife died in 1910, and is survived by four children : Benjamin G., Louise (Mrs. F. E. Prior), Frances N. (Mrs. Kenneth Backman), and John N., Jr. Both sons were in service in the World war, Benjamin having been a lieutenant in the aviation corps, and John N., Jr., having been in the motor-transport service on the stage of conflict overseas. In 1915 Mr. Garver wedded Miss Helen Bevitt of Springfield, and they have one child, Barbara. AARON JOSEPH MOYER. The history of Springfield is the record of the lives of the men who played their part in the development of its commercial and industrial prestige, and one of them who, during many years was an integral factor in its busy life, and after he had retired still made it his home, was Aaron Joseph Moyer, now deceased. He was born in Northumberland County, Pennsylvania, January 25, 1845, a son of John and Mary (Hartraft) Moyer, natives of Lycoming County, Pennsylvania, who were farming people, and both died in Pennsylvania. When he was sixteen years old Aaron Joseph Moyer became a member of the Pennsylvania State Militia. He first attended the district schools, and then taught school in order to pay his way through Dixon Seminary, at Williamsport, Pennsylvania. Subsequently he became bookkeeper for several concerns, and in 1880 came to Springfield and became ticket agent for what was then the Ohio Southern Railroad, but now the Dayton, Toledo & Ironton Railroad, and after twenty months in that situation, became manager for the Rogers Iron Fence Company, and held that position nearly five years. Mr. Moyer, with William Burns as his partner, organized the Springfield Architectural Iron Company to manufacture all kinds of iron fences, cornices, stairs, fire escapes and lawn mowers, and after fifteen years of successful operation, disposed of his business and retired. His death occurred in October, 1916, and in his passing Springfield lost one of its most representative citizens. On August 6, 1873, Mr. Moyer married Rebecca Weaver, born at Freeport, Armstrong County, Pennsylvania, a daughter of Peter S. and Anna (Bowman) Weaver, natives of Huntington County, Penn- SPRINGFIELD AND CLARK COUNTY - 123 sylvania, and Berwick, Pennsylvania. On both sides of the family the ancestors were established in the American Colonies over a quarter of a century prior to the Revolutionary war. Mr. and Mrs. Moyer became the parents of the following children: Aaron Joseph, Jr., who lives at Dalton, Massachusetts, married Zenaide Staples Fredelia Hughes. married Frostie Paxton, and they live at Midland, Pennsylvania, and have two children, Robert P. and Dorotha J. ; Ebbie, who lives with her mother, teaches both vocal and instrumental music ; and Frederick Weaver, who married Hester Ann Orr, lives at Springfield, and they have two children, Hester Ann and Frederick. Mr. Moyer attended the Methodist Episcopal Church, and his widow and children are Episcopalians. He served for one term as a member of the Board of Public Service of Springfield, and was always active as a republican. Well-known in Masonry he had been advanced to the Commandery in that order. In 1907 Mrs. Moyer built a modern residence at 1128 North Limestone Street, and here she and her daughter are living, surrounded with all of the comforts and some of the luxuries of life. PAUL TIFFANY GERHARDT. There are in every community men of force and character whose importance is definitely recognized, but in the majority of cases these are men of years and long business experience. At Springfield, however, this supremacy is not entirely maintained, for here are found men of the younger generation who are capably handling old-time business problems, and as officials competently directing large enterprises. An example is readily found in Paul Tiffany Gerhardt, who is secretary and general manager of the Avondale Realty Company, secretary of the New Century Land & Securities Company, and also secretary of the Springfield Real Estate Board. Paul Tiffany Gerhardt was born at Springfield, Clark County, Ohio, July 23, 1892, and is a son Of Jacob and Ida May (Tiffany) Gerhardt, and a grandson of Sebastian and Margaret (Petersen) Gerhardt. The grandparents were born in Germany, the grandmother in Alsace-Lorraine, now a province of France. They embarked for the United States on the same sailing vessel and, although strangers at the time, the long voyage of three months gave them plenty of opportunity to get acquainted and the result was that they were married in the City of New York shortly after landing. For a time they lived in Pennsylvania and then came as pioneers to Greene County, Ohio. Sebastian was a wagon maker and horseshoer, and his trade expertness caused him to be selected for such work in the Union Army during the Civil war. He was with General Sherman's forces on the memorable march to the sea, and acquitted himself well, not only as a mechanic, but often as a soldier in the thickest of the fight. Jacob Gerhardt, son of Sebastian, was born at Yellow Springs, Greene County, Ohio, in 1860, and resided in the place of his birth until 1882, when he removed to Springfield and embarked in the retail grocery business, in which he has successfully continued ever since, his well known establishment being situated at 31 North Fountain Avenue. He married Ida May Tiffany, who was born at Dayton, Ohio, in 1861. She is a daughter of the late Isaac Tiffany, who for many years was in 124 - SPRINGFIELD AND CLARK COUNTY the hotel business in Clark County, and who was a thirty-third degree Scottish Rite Mason. The Tiffany name is well known in the United States, largely on account of its honorable, well-managed business enterprises. The great New York jewelry house of Tiffany has been heard of in the remotest villages. The father of Mrs. Gerhardt was a half-brother of the New York capitalist, and one of his brothers was politically prominent in Greene County, of which he was sheriff at one time. Mr. and Mrs. Gerhardt have three children : George S., of Springfield, who is a traveling salesman ; Alice Margaret, who is the wife of Dr. Frank Newton, of Toledo ; and Paul Tiffany. Paul Tiffany Gerhardt was educated in the public schools, with one year in the high school, and at Wittenberg College, from which institution he was graduated in 1910. In that same summer he went to work with the International Harvester Company, and remained three years with the Springfield branch, serving in different capacities and in various departments, and when he left the plant in 1913, at the time of the great flood, he was serving as emergency timekeeper in the general offices. Mr. Gerhardt by this time had made up his mind as to a future business career, talent and inclination both pointing in that direction, and he next entered the employ of the James Leffel Foundry Company as cost clerk. He continued three years with this concern, and when he retired early in 1916 he was officiating as chief factory clerk. In July, 1916, he became bookkeeper for the Avondale Realty Company, and shortly afterward a salesman, with bright prospects ahead. These were not, however, immediately realized, for Mr. Gerhardt was one of the patriotic, unselfish young men who when country and civilization were endangered had the personal courage and moral strength to set aside their individual ambitions and offer themselves for service in the great armed conflict across the Atlantic. On May 12, 1917, as one of the first from Springfield, Mr. Gerhardt enlisted for service in the World war. He was ordered to Fort Benjaman Harrison Officers' Training Camp where, on August 13, 1917, he was commissioned second lieutenant and assigned to duty in France as one of eight commissioned officers selected from that camp to continue training in France, with the object of developing them into instructors for duty back in this country. He left the United States on the transport Mongolia on August 29, 1917, landed at Liverpool, England, three weeks later and then proceeded to the French officers' training school at La Val Bonne, where he took a seven weeks' course in modern warfare tactics. He was then ordered to the American training school at Langres, France, the first one to be established, and on the day following, Christmas, 1917, he reported to the English training school at La Togue, France, on the English Channel. There he took a course in Lewis gun practice, and in January, 1918, went from there to the Hallock sector (English) on the English front. In February the young military student reported to the Saint Pol (France) Bayonet School, and was there when the big German offensive drive started on March 21, 1918, following which he participated in eight battles. After that drive he was ordered back to American headquarters at Langres, France ; then for three weeks was with the Eighty-